Polokwane Literary Fair offers variety
Polokwane Municipality’s 5th Annual Literary Fair was hosted in the city last week and offered a wide spectrum of activities that involved a selection of artists, writers and performers. Participants that included David wa Maahlamela, Fred Khumalo, Harry Kalmer, Judith Joubert, Shafinaaz Hassim, Phumzile Zondo, Rosemary Mangope and Yewande Omotoso were welcomed during a reception …
Polokwane Municipality’s 5th Annual Literary Fair was hosted in the city last week and offered a wide spectrum of activities that involved a selection of artists, writers and performers.
Participants that included David wa Maahlamela, Fred Khumalo, Harry Kalmer, Judith Joubert, Shafinaaz Hassim, Phumzile Zondo, Rosemary Mangope and Yewande Omotoso were welcomed during a reception at the City Library last Monday evening.
The program was mainly focussed on the youth and learners from Capricorn High School, Motse Maria in Mashashane, Mountain View in Mankweng, Tshebela in Ga-Molepo, Taxilla Secondary School in Nirvana and St Bede’s High School in Ga-Mothapo were invited to attend and take part in the activities that took place until Friday. The participants also visited Peter Nchabeleng High School in Seshego, New Look Primary School in Extension 75, Seshigo High School in Moletjie, Westenburg High School, Ditlalemeso High School, Hwiti High School in Mankweng and Ramathope High School in Ga-Mothiba where learners were briefed on various topics that included writing and speech skills.
The week’s programme included book launches where Nthabiseng JahRose Jafta launched ‘My Muse’ and Hector Kunene presented ‘Ta Mikosi ta Rilana’ by Themba Patrick Magaisa, followed by a master writing class presented by Omotoso.
A highlight of the week was the Youth Parliament that took place in the council chamber of the municipality. Learners had the opportunity to address the assembly on various matters under guidance of Isaac Moselane, who acted as speaker. Presentations entitled ‘Government has not done enough to develop and promote art from indigenous cultures’ and ‘40 years after the Soweto youth uprising, Afrikaans art, especially literature, still remains more resourced than indigenous languages’ were well researched and received. On Friday the entourage visited the Polokwane Correctional Services where inmates were entertained with book discussions, music and poetry and also received books for the library.
The week’s programme concluded on Saturday evening with ‘The Curtain Call’, a performance with entertainment and live music by Kgafela le Marabele, Tuks Senganga and Mopedy in the executive lounge of the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Matshidiso Mothapo, acting Communications and Marketing Manager of the municipality said that from the onset, the municipality alluded to the paradigm shift in terms of the focus on the fair. “From being quantity orientated by attracting large crowds of people in huge public places, we followed a more qualitative approach where our participating artists visited captive audiences to engage in intense and intimate knowledge sharing.
It is against this background that the success of our fair should be measured. From the organisers’ vantage point, we are quite content that our activities had resounding impact which can only be made more meaningful through follow-up visitations throughout the year leading to the next fair,” Mothapo explained.
Story and photos: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com
Featured photo: Writer Harry Kalmer, Stefan Bosman, Cultural Services Manager of Polokwane Municipality and Koot Jacobs, Assistant Manager at the reception for participants to the Literary Fair.
